Mr. Townsend suggests eloping to Catherine and is surprised when she quickly agrees. Mr. Townsend worries, however, that by eloping he will be forced to accept Catherine with only the inheritance from her mother and nothing more. As Mr. Townsend waffles in his promises, Dr. Sloper suggests that he take Catherine to Europe for six months before she elope. Catherine agrees. The trip, which is extending to a year, does nothing to change Catherine's determination to marry Mr. Townsend.
Mr. Townsend, however, comes to the conclusion that Dr. Sloper will never give his consent to his union with his daughter and will cut her out of his will. This makes Mr. Townsend come to the conclusion that he should break off the engagement. Before he can do this, Mr. Townsend and Catherine argue over a trip to New Orleans he plans to make. In Catherine's depression over this argument, Mrs. Penniman assumed Mr. Townsend ended the engagement and she tells Catherine of his intentions. A short time later, Catherine receives a letter from Mr. Townsend that officially ends the engagement.
Seventeen years pass and Dr. Sloper becomes ill, dying from pneumonia. Catherine learns that Dr. Sloper has cut her inheritance to nearly nothing because she refused to promise she would not marry Morris Townsend. However, when Mr. Townsend comes to her two years later, at Mrs. Penniman's suggestion, Catherine refuses to even consider a friendship with him.